well how do you use your credit cards
um
i use them carefully i guess um
yeah
i uh i usually don't i usually use them to consolidate billing
um-hum
uh for convenience sakes
but i usually just pay them off at the end of the month
yeah especially what i do
i don't i don't avoid the finance charges uh as high as they are
yeah
i don't uh
ridiculously high
don't
you know i don't
let them carry over you know i uh
um-hum
i've been lucky i guess i haven't had a bill big enough where i couldn't pay them off at the end of the month
but i i try to try to live within a budget you know and so
well so
i keep that in mind i just don't you know
i guess it takes self-restraint when you have a credit card to know that
that there's really you really have to pay these things off
yeah plus a lot more
plus a lot more you know and you got to realize that there's only this much money in the bank and if you're going to live
you know
yeah well
if you're not going to try to you know say well i'll pay it off sometime in the future
yeah for so many years i was so deep in debt on credit cards and i finally dug my way out of them and that was enough to teach me you know you just i can do without them
um-hum
right some people have a
rip theirs up just because they can't you know they can't resist them
yeah
i got rid of a lot of them especially the ones where i paid fees
right
uh i kept the ones that were free
right
and basically the same thing i use them if i'm running short of cash and there's something i want or sale a sale or
um-hum
when i travel i use them
right
i use them to float sometimes if it's near the end of the month and you know and you know i don't have a check coming in a few days
yeah yeah
yeah it's about
i'll go ahead and and charge it knowing that the money will be there
yeah that's what i do
by the time the bill comes
yeah if there's running into a cash short or something there's some things some purchases i make that i will do always on credit card just so i have a record of them just like when i take all my cats down to the vet i always pay that on credit card
uh-huh right you know we go out to eat a lot of times
yeah
i don't like to carry a lot of cash with me
hum-um
i have
so i just carry my credit card and and for things like that
yeah
as long as i know you know that i'm i'm not over doing it
yeah
it's a
and yeah i have i have what i have two credit cards that's all i use i'm always getting stuff in the mail all the time
yeah yeah i
you are a preferred such and such and you are
yeah you're you're already approved then it's back
you're already approved to get
i
i uh for the longest time i i'd gotten rid of my gas credit cards and then all of a sudden i started getting a flurry of these things so i i did i have picked up three gas credit cards in the last couple months
oh
but uh
sometimes they just send them to you and say here have a credit card
yeah
i have that one
oh do you yeah
yeah i just ripped i just cut it up and threw it away but you know
oh you should have used it you wouldn't have been liable for the payment
is that right
yeah
huh i didn't know that
they yeah they send you card that
that you didn't want
that you didn't apply for it's yours
is that right
yeah
huh
of course they could always stick something in the credit bureau
that's right that's right they could they can make your life miserable if they want to
sure yeah i had a i had a tough battle with Exxon several years ago
is that right
uh and i i tore up their card and sent it to them and now i've got another one
we don't have too many Exxon stations out this way
oh really what do you got out there
uh we've got lots of Mobil
Mobils yeah
Mobils are big and
we have a few Exxon we've got some other ones like Citgo
yeah
yeah is a is a one
yeah well i don't think i don't think we've got a Citgo here in Raleigh no matter of fact i know we don't
yeah
got some Shell stations
um
a few Texaco stations
we have several convenience stores that sell Citgo gas but they're not Citgo stations i guess
uh-huh
right
the biggies around here are Exxon Texaco and um
well gosh that's about it BP i guess
and there's another local one i can't i can't remember what there's some few Sinclair stations
gosh i haven't seen a Sinclair station in years
yeah the few they're the green dinosaurs are
yeah
their their
gosh there used to when i was a when i was a kid there was a Sinclair station about three blocks away that's where i used to go to pump up my tires and get my flats fixed and all of that
logo
yeah there's not that many down here that you know once
once in a while you'll see one
yeah
i guess they're still in business
just barely i guess
yeah
yeah
well just
you ever you ever gotten in trouble with your credit card where they they've charged charged you for something you didn't didn't
no uh i i've nope i've never had that
didn't purchase
i i did have a problem with American Express one time about ten years ago when i first got started in a business um
yeah i have
uh-huh
they got my name of course
um-hum
and i said yeah this will be handy because i can use this for all my business expenses so i used it went on a went on a trip and used it got the bill and paid it
about three weeks later i get this nasty letter from them saying you haven't paid you're overdue pay it
right
so i ignored it assuming that the things had crossed in the mail about two weeks after that i get a phone call
right
from someone saying
say you are really overdue you need to pay this thing
and i said what are you talking about i've already paid you and by that time the bank statement had come in and i had the canceled check
uh-huh
uh-huh
so they said okay we'll take care of it
two weeks later i get another nasty letter threatening legal action
so i sent them a letter with a copy of the canceled check and their card cut up into about a hundred pieces i said here is your card here is the copy of my canceled check never send me anything else
and never heard from them
uh-huh somebody blew it
but i just
yeah i just you know i ain't got time to mess mess around with them
right
too many people want my money out there i don't have to pay somebody to take it
right
do you have the Discover card
no i don't i i kept wanting i kept thinking about getting it but i just don't use the things enough to justify getting it
either either do i
they they i don't know i don't know how anybody can fall into this you get cash back and buy into that because
um-hum
all they're giving you back is a little bit of the interest you paid in
that's right that's that's right you're paying you're paying a higher interest rate so they can rebate you two percent of it
yeah their interest
right their interest rate's twenty two percent
um-hum
higher than any other ones and then they said that we'll give you back some of your money
hum that's right
yeah right and in the meantime for that entire year they've got the use of that money
uh like
right
uh yeah it's
it it's a rip-off
oh it is i there's so
but a lot of people think it's wonderful i guess said they're they're doing well everything i've read they've been getting a more market share i guess they're they're advertising and promotions and
well
uh America's Americans are suckers
yeah i guess so
yeah
i don't know
they don't know how to sit there and look at the interest rate and say well this one is only sixteen percent and this one's twenty two hum
yeah
um-hum
yeah i have a on my credit cards i have a grace period if i pay it off within when the bill comes i i don't have to owe any interest
yeah i
yeah right that's
and uh
i've only got i've only got two uh two cards now i've got a Bank of Scotland Visa and a Citibank MasterCard
right
um-hum
and and that's it i mean i i don't need anything else now
um-hum
yeah once in a while uh
my i have an American Express they have this a buyer protection thing
um-hum
where you they extend the warranty
yeah
so uh they both can be nice around Christmas time and stuff if you're going to buy a TV or uh or uh electronic
yeah
yeah something something like that
then
my roommate really believes in American Express he's got the green card or the gold card and the the Optima card and
and everything huh
he just he just thinks they're terrific
uh-huh
and i sit there and say yeah look what you pay for that every year
he pays for that yeah a couple hundred bucks probably for that like high end card
yeah
gosh
well if you have the money i guess
yeah
yeah i'm i'm thinking myself
get what you pay for huh
really yeah you know he's he's impressed because they send you this nice statement every i guess it's every year
they itemize all your purchases and they break it down in little categories for you and all that uh yeah it's a nice report but is it worth you know is it worth sixty bucks a year
for that little
for that report
right
don't be crazy
yeah
uh when i was over in England i picked i picked up that uh Bank of Scotland Visa card and i i don't know hardly i don't ever use it except when i want to play the currency market
um that's that's when it becomes handy because if i know that you know if the if the uh if the pound is high i can buy more dollar things
um-hum
for what i'm getting and then if if i think the rate's going to drop then i pay them back in less dollars
right
right
right
and it it's worked out most of the times i'm i'm usually pretty good on calling the the currency market
uh-huh yeah a lot of people do that for a living i guess
yeah
trade trade money
yeah i i did it
when i lived over there i did it quite often
uh-huh
um and i really i really had a racket going because uh my paycheck was being uh electronically deposited here in the states
and the bank that i banked with i could write them a check on an American bank and they would give me instant credit for it
so
uh-huh
and and i and over and over the course of a year i i figured out how long it took them to clear that check and the and the shortest period of time was eight days
so generally about eight days before payday depending on what the currency markets were doing i would go up and start buying i'd i'd start cashing in my checks for pounds
hum
right
and then by the time
the other check went through
it the it the rate was either down or up depending on what i was doing and it it was great i mean i i could
made a little extra money there huh
yeah and i mean one day you know i might be able to get
